Leaked news about EA MMA

Taken from EA Forums...



----Let me start by saying that I worked for EA Tiburon for a while, but am currently completely unaffiliated with the studio or EA in general.

I got to play the EA MMA game very briefly, in a VERY early phase of development, and this is what I'm willing to say about it.

First of all, signed fighters, since that seems to be a big topic of discussion:

Randy Couture is in. Tim Sylvia is in. Nick Diaz is in. The Shamrocks are in. I'm almost positive that Fedor is also in, but my memory may be failing me, so don't quote me on that. There are more, but I can't remember who off the top of my head.

The game is based on the FNR4 engine, and the art goals I've seen are absolutely beautiful. Better looking than UFC Undisputed, even better than Fight Night.

Gameplay, love it or hate it, will be largely analog-stick based, not dissimilar to Fight Night. This makes the game slightly less intuitive to newcomers, but will also make it far more technical and less button-mashy. Needless to say, the analog stick motions for striking opens up a much wider range of technical opportunities than the simplistic "high, low, special" system in Undisputed.

Submissions are fantastic. The submission system in the EA game (even in the pre-alpha build I tested) works much better than in the UFC game, and is not dissimilar to the real thing. A skilled fighter can score a submission early on, regardless of the stamina meter, given the right positioning, decent stats and fast reactions on the controller. Additionally, the animations for submissions is beautiful. You probably noticed if you played the UFC game that when you attempt a submission, there are two or three "transition" stages, each of which have a simple "idle" animation that repeats until the next transition is made. All I'm willing to say is that the EA game will look far more fluid, more organic and less robotic than the THQ game in this regard.

I don't want to talk a whole lot about the career mode, except that it's based on several different fictional promotions with which you'll be able to sign fights and move up the ladder.

Personally, I think for hardcore MMA fans, the gameplay is going to be a lot more important than the names and likenesses of the fighters you can use. And with Photo Game Face + a create-a-fighter system that's much more extensive than in the THQ game, this becomes even less of an issue, as most people will want to go through the career mode and fight online as themselves rather than as a licensed fighter. I think the gameplay superiority of the EA title will outweigh the UFC roster, provide for higher or at least very competitive sales and cause Zuffa to sign a contract with EA when their THQ contract is up.------

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Taken from http://sin.fm/ea-sports-mma/

Possible roster..

MMA_Logo

Looks like EA Sports are going up against THQ’s UFC Undisputed 2009.

Now this game probably won’t feature any UFC fighter because THQ have an exclusive contract with the UFC.

Wikipedia claims these fighters are in the game

Randy Couture[5]
Tim Sylvia[5]
Fedor Emelianenko [6]
Gegard Mousasi[6]
Benji Radach[7]
Bobby Lashley[5]

Rumored: Nick Diaz, Muhammed Lawal, Jason Miller and Jake Shields

UFC president Dana White has declared himself “at war” with EA over the development of the game and has threatened to blacklist from the UFC any fighter who signs on to the project, with the exception of Randy Couture due to pre-existing contractual arrangements between Couture and UFC. White accused EA of acting in bad faith in allegedly previously refusing to consider a UFC branded MMA game due to not considering MMA “a real sport” and are motivated now purely by the recent commercial success of the THQ published UFC 2009 Undisputed, stating “EA doesn’t give a [expletive] about mixed martial arts. They made that very clear.”

Here’s a roster I like:
HEAVYWEIGHT

* Fedor Emelianenko
* Josh Barnett
* Andrei Arlovski
* Randy Couture
* Alistair Overeem
* Tim Sylvia
* Jeff Monson
* Brett Rogers
* Aleksander Emelianenko
* Antonio Silva
* Paul Buentello
* Gilbert Yvel
* Bobby Lashley
* Roger Gracie
* Fabricio Werdum
* Ben Rothwell
* Dave Herman
* Segei Kharitonov

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT

* Renato Sobral
* Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
* Muhammed Lawal “King Mo”
* Tito Ortiz
* Vladimir Matyushenko
* Mike Whitehead
* Jeremy Horn
* Emanuel Newton
* Kevin Randleman
* Mike Kyle
* Gegard Mousasi
* Xande Riberio
* Ken Shamrock
* Sokoudjou
* Ricardo Arona
* Seth Petruzelli
* Cavalcante
* Aaron Rosa

MIDDLEWEIGHT

* Jorge Santiago
* Kazushi Sakuraba
* Minowa
* Frank Shamrock
* Robbie Lawler
* Hector Lombard
* Scott Smith
* Misaki
* Renzo Gracie
* Ronaldo Souza
* Jason Miller
* Cyborg Santos
* Benji Radach
* Tim Kennedy
* Murilo Rua
* Joey Villasenor
* Cung Le
* Melvin Manhoef
* Vitor Belfort

WELTERWEIGHT

* Hayato Sakurai
* Royce Gracie
* Jay Hieron
* Jake Shields
* Paul Daley
* Nick Diaz
* Joe Riggs
* Carlos Newton
* Pat Miletich
* Nick Thompson
* Akira Kikuchi
* Thomas Denny
* Lyman Good
* Omar de la Cruz
* Jason High
* John Alessio
* Luigi Fioravanti
* Ryo Chonan

LIGHTWEIGHT

* Shinya Aoki
* Yves Edwards
* Kawajari
* Charles Bennett
* Satoru Kitaoka
* Joachim Hansen
* Eddie Alvarez
* Chris Horodecki
* Takanori Gomi
* Mizuto Hirota
* Josh Thomson
* Gilbert Melendez
* Gesias Cavalcante
* Vitor Ribeiro
* Mitsuhiro Ishida
* Jorge Masvidal
* Marcus Aurelio

This sort of competition can only improve gameplay for both games

I'lll believe it when I see it.

I think it's fair to say I'm not a gamer since I haven't played anything since the war between Sega and Turbo Grafix... lol. I know they are claiming to be more user friendly or whatever, but am I the only one thinking this game will be missing something huge without the UFC talent which comprises 90-95% of the talent at the top of almost every weight class? When we used to play Madden back in the dark ages when it first came out, we all scrambled to look for the best talent and teams to use. Does that not matter anymore?

LikesToFightGuy wrote:

I think it's fair to say I'm not a gamer since I haven't played anything since the war between Sega and Turbo Grafix... lol. I know they are claiming to be more user friendly or whatever, but am I the only one thinking this game will be missing something huge without the UFC talent which comprises 90-95% of the talent at the top of almost every weight class? When we used to play Madden back in the dark ages when it first came out, we all scrambled to look for the best talent and teams to use. Does that not matter anymore?

Holyshit dude Turbo Grafix 16, I almost forgot that thing ever existed, what was that like 91-92?

Lol... yeah, we've established that I'm old...

It would be cool if they could get KJ Noons on lightweight as well, just as an addition.

I don't see them getting all that talent but if they do, this game could seriously own Undispited as far as quality goes.

What i want to see is a better career mode. I was most looking forward to that on Undisputed and it was weak. The ground game is irritating as well. It's a good game but considering how hyped i was for months, it was kind of a letdown.

EA is a superior company so im expecting good things from this game, as far as gameplay goes. If they can get all those fighters, that would be huge and you could not really complain about it.

Don't Syvlia, Arlovski, and Tito have contracts with UFC that they can't be in another game for a decade or something after Undisputed?

thats roster is solid and if the game play is as good as they say then i will buy for sure.. but as sooners said il believe it when i see it

I wonder if it will be the same quality as the Fight Night Series.

mannyfresh wrote:

LikesToFightGuy wrote:

I think it's fair to say I'm not a gamer since I haven't played anything since the war between Sega and Turbo Grafix... lol. I know they are claiming to be more user friendly or whatever, but am I the only one thinking this game will be missing something huge without the UFC talent which comprises 90-95% of the talent at the top of almost every weight class? When we used to play Madden back in the dark ages when it first came out, we all scrambled to look for the best talent and teams to use. Does that not matter anymore?

Holyshit dude Turbo Grafix 16, I almost forgot that thing ever existed, what was that like 91-92?

For people like me and LTFG, Turbografix isn't old. Atari and Colecovision are old.

While it may be lacking in star power, if the game play is fun and more authentic to the sport, many fans would gravitate towards it.

Whether it's successful or not, I hope the gameplay is as good as this guy is making it out to be, Undisputed's groundgame is a joke and the standup is oversimplified. The roster is meaningless to gameplay, everybody uses their created fighters online anyway.

I do think the game will be a flop either way sales-wise. People buy PPV's because of the first three letters of the title, not because of the event's content. (If you think I'm wrong, compare PPV sales of Brock Lesnar's first MMA fight with his first UFC fight. My guess is the same will be true of the game.

People by sports games because of two letters - EA.

And why people buy video games isn't why people buy PPV's. Games are about gameplay. If the game has good reviews, is advertised with other EA media and plays well, it will sell just fine.

Since about 2007, MMA fans have a knee jerk reaction to assume anything not having to do with the UFC will fail and that is just unfortunate.

EA sports could buy the UFC four times with the revenue it generated last year.

Another thing, I know for a fact I am not the only one who, a few months into the THQ game, really notices the flaws in both the submission game and the striking. Undisputed is a great first effort obviously but it has horrible replay value.


EA's game has photo create a fighter, meaning you can scan a photo and it will create the face in the game. You can add anyone you want then.

franklinfan2 wrote:

mannyfresh wrote:

LikesToFightGuy wrote:

I think it's fair to say I'm not a gamer since I haven't played anything since the war between Sega and Turbo Grafix... lol. I know they are claiming to be more user friendly or whatever, but am I the only one thinking this game will be missing something huge without the UFC talent which comprises 90-95% of the talent at the top of almost every weight class? When we used to play Madden back in the dark ages when it first came out, we all scrambled to look for the best talent and teams to use. Does that not matter anymore?

Holyshit dude Turbo Grafix 16, I almost forgot that thing ever existed, what was that like 91-92?

For people like me and LTFG, Turbografix isn't old. Atari and Colecovision are old.

I had Gemini, any one else have that system....